On April 25th of 2013 I wrote a column about Max the dog. Max officially belonged to my grandson Liam, but I was keeping him at Siete Ranch. I wrote about how Max left for several days, leading us all to believe that he was "gone," but then he came back home.

Here is the postscript to that column. Not long after I wrote it, Max left again. I thought he was out dating, or maybe just running around with the boys, but this time Max never came back. We lived through the typical tears and crying when we finally had to admit to Liam that Max was never coming back, but tried to reassure him (and ourselves!) that Max had probably found a really nice home.

At 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve the animal shelter in Denton called my daughter-in-law Heather with the news that Max had been found. He had been gone for exactly eight months, but now had miraculously appeared in the city of Denton to provide the most wonderful Christmas gift possible for Liam.

In case you doubt the extraordinary nature of this event, let me add another detail. Max had to travel about 40 miles, either over or around Lake Ray Roberts, in order to get to Denton. But the real question is why did he go to Denton? When he left Siete Ranch for the last time, all of us were living in Plano. In early August, my son Joshua, his wife Heather, and the boys moved to Denton, a city where Max had never been in his life.

I have always believed in Santa Claus, but this seemed beyond even his magical powers. I have always believed in the love that our dogs have for us, but this seemed superhuman. I have always believed in the miracle of Christmas, and this was the best one ever.

Used with permission from Don Underwood. To receive his weekly devotional click on his name to go to his author page.